Keisai Eisen: *Ōiso Station* (from the *Beauties of the Tōkaidō* series) – *Ōban* format [Yōyūdō] Produced in the 1970s [Traditional Hand-Printed Woodblock Print] Mint condition [*Ōban* Format] Image size: 38.4 cm (H) x 25.5 cm (W) This is the most celebrated work in Keisai Eisen’s *Beauties of the Tōkaidō* series—unquestionably the standout piece. A contemporary of Katsushika Hokusai, Keisai Eisen excelled in *bijin-ga* (pictures of beautiful women) and is hailed as one of the "Three Great Masters of *Bijin-ga* in the Late Edo Period." Having long frequented the pleasure quarters—and even operated a business there himself—he was intimately familiar with the lives of the women in that milieu; he might well be described as the "Liu Yong of the Ukiyo-e world." Ōiso was the ninth post station on the Tōkaidō road. When Utagawa Hiroshige depicted this location, he chose a scene alluding to the famous legend of the Soga Brothers' revenge—specifically, the moment Tora Gozen shed tears of sorrow over their tragic fate—creating an image known as "Tora's Rain" (the first of the series' "rains of sorrow"). In contrast, Eisen’s depiction of Ōiso in the *Beauties of the Tōkaidō* series focuses on a detail of daily life familiar to people of the time: bathing. The beauty is shown washing her upper body in front of a wooden tub, striking an alluring "S-curve" pose that perfectly showcases Eisen’s signature stylistic flair. Given the humid, sweltering summers of Tokyo Bay, bathing culture became a hallmark activity of the rising *chōnin* (townspeople) civilization; maintaining a clean, "spotless" body was considered the mark of a true Edoite with "big-city" sophistication.